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spraying money

Can you imagine a Nigerian celebration without ‘Spraying’? It seems almost impossible. ‘Spraying’ has become a huge part of the Nigerian celebration culture, so much that even when we are not in our country we continue by spraying the currency of whichever country we’re in.

More recently, The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Police in Lagos State have set in motion to prosecute those who spray the Naira at parties and other abusers of the Naira.

The Lagos police have already arrested 18 offenders of Naira abuse, the arrests have been made under the contravention of Section 21, sub-section (4) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 which reads “It shall also be an offence punishable under Sub-section (1) of this section for any person to hawk, sell or otherwise trade in Naira notes, coins or any other note issued by the Bank.”

The Lagos state police have also stated that they are going to start arresting Nigerians who organize events and allow those selling naira notes in their venues.

The officer in charge at SCIID, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Bolaji Salami said, “We are clamping down on those abusing our currency. It is an offence to sell Naira notes at weddings or any gathering. It contravenes the CBN Act. Investigations would reveal how these suspects come about these new currencies. We are going to get to the root of it because the offence is punishable by a fine of N50, 000 or six months imprisonment or both. Already, we have started arresting people who spray money at social events. Sanity must return to our system and our currency must be respected. We know that these are not the real targets because if they don’t get the mint notes, they won’t be able to sell it. So, our main targets are commercial banks and even our staff who release this money to these vendors. Once these suspects confess and mention their names, we’ll go after them.”

So I guess this could be the beginning of the end of the ‘spraying’ culture in Nigeria, what is your take on spraying of currency at celebrations? Are you for or against it?